Once Lost, Now Found

Chapter 8: The great escape- Part two

Nothing was fine and dandy. Not in this world of nightmares. Summoning my strength, I melted the cuffs and the wires that streamed from them and into my pierced skin. Luckily for me, none of the nurses were attending to the 'patients'' in this room. There had to be cameras somewhere but I trusted  Jean to have deactivated them or rewired them. Sotto voce curses left my lips and bounced off the four walls of the room. This only intensified the feeling of claustrophobia that threatened to break to the surface. I relinquished thoughts of giving up and decided that being cooped up any longer was not an option. I glanced around the room- searching for some sort of stun device which could be used to jolt my friends awake. A halted gasp and choked cry left my parted lips when I realised that Timothy was no longer lying splayed out atop his bed. Had they done something to drag him back into consciousness? Was that how I'd suddenly lost contact with him? It had suddenly become clear that I had to make use of unorthodox means to get the hell out of this place. Dashing to Merrith's bedside, I fished around the drawers located below the bedside table for anything that could be of use. Finally, I found the device people used to shock people who'd suffered from respiratory and circulatory injuries by subjecting the user's heart to a minor shock. I seized the device which had been modified over the years and was now no larger than a compad. This place was overflowing with peculiar bibelots and I was tempted to snag one for myself but there was no time to waste for this paraphernalia. Tim was nowhere in sight and my friends were unconscious. I tested the device on Merrith, who was instantly jolted upright. "Wha... what's going on? What, huh?"Merrith slurred her words. "Merrith, it's me... Aquila! I need you to keep quiet and help the others undo their cuffs. use this device to jolt them awake. I think there should be other in the drawers under their bedside table,"I urged. Merrith shot me a look of indifference and utter ignorance. i couldn't bear to waste anymore time with her so I hurried to undo the cuffs of my other peers before shocking them to their feet in turn. Merrith stared at me with her muth hanging wide agape as I went about doing what I did. When I reached Elyssa's bed, I realised that the wires were dangling down and the cuffs were smashed. She'd controlled and activated the shockwaves well. It was a pity she could't have simply teleported to another location. That was the problem of having wires plugged into your skin and being unconscious. She couldn't physically move herself to a particular location, let alone teleport. But right now, as she awoke and saw what she'd managed to do, a ghost of a smile flickered on her face. To be able to summon powers was the desideratum of this day and age. My point would soon be reinforced when I realised that my friends had lost all their memories of this institution, the supposed alien invasion, retaining only the ability of speech and their identities. Elyssa, was spared, along with me, since we'd been able to detach ourselves from the wires before it was too late. 

"What where am I?" Dave blurted.

"What? Is this a sick bay? I'm not sick and who are you guys?" Sara queried, her voice indicating her wariness of all of us. 

"Aquila, were you the one who sent us here?"Merrith demanded, her voice stern, as always, yet lacking its usual note of compassion or empathy. She was all spiteful and not at all the Merrith I knew. This was a girl who would knock me out if need be and I saw her massaging her knuckles in agitation as she awaited for my reply. 

Instinct made me pour out the truth to them in an inelegant riposte. I tried to squeeze all of the details within three sentences but they remained as confused as ever. And I'd thought we'd consorted with the devil, seen it's ugly side and remained supreme, yet here i was, standing in fornt of three amnesiacs trying to explain the inexplicable phenomena that had struck this poorly prepared planet. All of them were dsbelieving, only Elyssa stood by my side and helped to assure them that what i spoke was the truth. I yearned to candidly remark on their sudden loss of memories and the gaping hole that had once been ample with knowledge and first- hand experiences with the devil's minions. Now they stood, cluelessly, in front of me, dressed in their grimy get- up and not getting a single word that I was muttering. It was infuriating and hopeless. This had been  a hopeless cause since our capture. I could try to escape; but how would I even survive out there, without much knowledge on the resistance and with no one by my side to lead me on.